Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
HSE Winter Plan: HSE
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I apologise to Mr. Woods but this is not Covid related. I will outline the figures year on year because it is not fair to say this is due to Covid. In 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and this year, the number of patients was 438,000, 493,000, 515,000, 568,000 and 612,000, respectively. Year on year, therefore, over recent years the numbers have been increasing. I am asking why.
Turning to the inpatient numbers, in 2019, some 67,985 people were waiting for inpatient procedures, whereas the figure is now 75,000. The numbers waiting 18 months or more have increased from 4,841 to 8,000, a difference of more than 3,000. They are very high numbers.